Changeable sign



June 6, 1933. L. PAzouREK Er AL. 1,912,540

CHANGEABLE SIGN Filed March 15. 1932 i )f/ l :s

11 A A u f//Z y Mmm l IVI il TTTTTTT YS ?atented .lime 6, 1933 sraras LOUS PAZOUREK, F SEVEN I-ILLS VILLAGE, AND KARL L. KERCKI-IOFF, 0F LAKE- VGOI), OHXO, ASSIGNORS T0 FRANK J. JONTZEN, 0F LAKEWOOD, OHIO CHANGEABLE SIGN Application filed March 16, 1932. Serial No. 599,122.

|This invention relates to changeable signs such as are used for advertising merchandise.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved sign including a body portion which may be printed or prepared 1n any ordinary or usual manner to designate the kind or character of merchandise, but provided with a blank area to which or over which price or other varying information may be applied and changed from time to time as may be desirable, so that the same .sign may be used over and over again as prices change or with other varying conditions.

A further ob3 ect of the invention is to provide a printed sign carrying a blank area provided with a waterproof coating and adapted to have applied thereto legends formed with water color or other suitable material and therefore adapted to be readily washed off and changed from time to time.

Further objects of the invention are in part obvious and in part will appear more in detail hereinafter.

1n the drawing, F ig. 1 represents a front elevation of one embodiment of the invention; and Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation on the line 2 2, Fig. 1.

'Our invention contemplates a sign including a base or body portion with information printed, written, painted or otherwise placed thereon in any suitable or usual manner. `|For convenience, in Fig. 1 we illustrate the sign as comprising a rectangular sheet 1 of paper or cardboard with any suitable legends printed upon its front face, such as the legends indicated at 2. These legends may describe the character of goods to be advertised, not only by name, but as to other characteristics, and said legends may be arranged on the base or body in any suitable manner, but such as to leave Zone or area 3 of suitable size and so located as to receive and properly display additional information in regard to the goods, but which information may or does vary from time to time, such as the price of the goods. The Zone 13 in Fig. 1 is within the lower half of the ent-ire area of the sign and is intended to receive, in a manner to be described, the price information 12e indicated at 1.4.

The present sign has its zone 3 so arranged that the price indication may be readily applied or removed and changed from time to time.

Figs. 1 and 2 show an arrangement adapted for various uses, such as for display use on an easel, on the store counter or other support, or attached to or located on or near the goods to be sold, or hung in a wind'ow or elsewhere. In this arrangement the sign comprises a paper or pasteboard body or backing 10 with its front surface arranged to provide any suitable form of background. It may be ak plain white surface with black letters printed upon it, or vice versa, or it may be a colored surface, such as a red surface with the printed matter in some contrasting color. For convenience, the drawing shows a. plain white surface 11 with the fixed or unchangeable legends 12 printed in black thereon. The arrangement of this matter is such as to leave Zone or `area 13 having the same or a different background characteristic from the remainder of the sign but large enough and' so located as to receive the changeable legend 14, such as the price 12. This zone, in the form being described, is located opposite to the permanent legend per can so that the price information will be the value per can.

iVith this sign the background color (if any i is used) .is first lapplied and either beneath or above it the fixed legends 12, after which the entire exposed surface of the sign is covered with a layer 15 of waterproof, more or less iexible, smooth and transparent material. One suitable material for the purpose is a transparent shellac or varnish, which is applied in .a thin layer and is permitted to dry, leaving the background and fixed legends fully exposed or visible through and beneath it. Some cellulose compounds are also suitable for the purpose, such as collodion or like cellulose solutions which dry in a manner to leave a Celluloid-like thin, transparent coating practically unaffected by water.

`The sign so prepared is capable of use in many ways. The changeable legends 14: may be applied with water color, inks, paints or other materials in any desirable colors or styles, and with a brush, pen or any suitable implement, and as the price changes from day to day this changeable information 14 may be erased with Water or other suitable Inaterial and Without affecting the coating or the printed matter or the paper lying beneath it.

What We claim is:

A changeable sign of the character described, comprising a paper body provided on one surface With a background and With fixed legends applied thereto and so located as to lea-ve a blank zone on said background,

a transparent Waterproof coating applied uniformly over the entire exposed surface of said body, including both the background and fixed legends, and a changeable legend applied to the outer surface of the transparent layer over the blank background Zone and removable by Water.

In testimony whereof We hereby aiX our signatures.

LOUIS PAZOUREK. KARL L. KERGKHOFF. 

